The wave of asset divestment by international oil companies in Nigeria that started in 2022 has seen several local operators ramp up their participation in a sector that is the lifeblood of the economy.
Ten companies have snapped up key assets in Nigeria, including the onshore subsidiaries of US oil giants Shell and ExxonMobil, with most of the deals approved by the government last year. At the helm of the buyers are industry veterans, many of whom cut their professional teeth at international oil companies before they started their own ventures.
Here are the new kings of Nigerian oil reshaping the industry.
Adewale Tinubu: Co-founder and group CEO of Oando
In August, indigenous oil company Oando, listed on Nigerian and Johannesburg exchanges, completed the acquisition of Nigerian Agip Oil Company(NAOC) from Italian energy company Eni for $783m. The deal increased Oando’s participating interests in four oil blocks – OMLs 60, 61, 62 and 63 – from 20% to 40% and almost doubled its total reserves to 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) from 505.6 million boe, based on 2022 reserves estimates, according to a statement released by Oando.
In 1993, Adewale Tinubu founded Ocean and Oil Investments (Nigeria) alongside Omamofe Boyo, now the executive director of Oando and London-based Equator Exploration, to supply and trade petroleum products within and outside Nigeria.
Seven years later, the company acquired a 30% controlling interest in Unipetrol Nigeria. In 2002, Unipetrol acquired 60% equity in Agip Nigeria and was renamed Oando after the merger of the two entities the following year.
In 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a case against Tinubu and Boyo over allegations of corporate governance violations and financial mismanagement, demanding a penalty of N91.1m and a five-year ban from serving as directors. A federal high court injunction meant that the sanctions were never enforced, and Tinubu and Boyo remained in their executive positions at Oando.
Tony Attah: CEO of Renaissance Energy Africa Company
Renaissance Energy Africa Company (RAEC) – a consortium including Aradel Energy, First E&P, ND Western, Waltersmith and Petrolin – bought Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) in a $2.4bn deal that was approved in December 2024 and finalised in March this year.
RAEC controls a 30% stake in the SPDC unincorporated joint venture that holds 15 oil mining leases for petroleum operations onshore and three for petroleum operations in shallow water. The state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has 55%.
Attah was appointed the managing director and CEO of the consortium in March 2024, two months after the consortium agreed to buy Shell’s Nigerian onshore business.
Between 2016 and 2021, he served as managing director and CEO of Nigeria LNG, and retired from Shell in January 2022 after more than 30 years at the company. Shell is one of the four shareholders of NLNG. Under his watch, NLNG shareholders made the final investment decision on the company’s seventh train that will increase its production capacity by 30%.
He previously held several positions in Shell, including managing director and board chairman of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, vice president in charge of health, safety and environment and corporate affairs, and vice president for human resources.
Ademola Adeyemi-Bero: Managing director and CEO of FIRST E&P
In December, the month the Shell-Renaissance deal was approved, Adeyemi-Bero became Nigeria’s governor for OPEC and chairman of the OPEC board of governors for 2025.
For almost 13 years, he has been the CEO of FIRST Exploration & Petroleum Development Company. Before he founded the company in June 2012, he was president and asset general manager for BG Nigeria, director at OKLNG and managing director for BG Exploration & Production Nigeria.
Under his leadership, FIRST E&P achieved first oil in 2020 from the Anyala field (OML 83) and has since produced over 50 million barrels of oil.
He previously spent around 20 years at Shell, where he held several technical, commercial and business leadership roles in various countries, including vice president for new business development in Africa.
A founding member and pioneer chairman of the Independent Petroleum Producers Group, an association of indigenous producers established in 2015, Adeyemi-Bero is the first vice president of the Petroleum Club Lagos.
Samuel Dossou-Aworet: Founder and chairman of Petrolin Group
Dossou-Aworet, a Beninese-Gabonese business tycoon, founded Petrolin UK in London 32 years ago. His company, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, has significant stakes in several Nigerian oil companies, including Seplat Energy, Aradel Holdings and ND Western.
He is the chairman of ND Western, a company formed by Petrolin, Aradel, First E&P and Waltersmith that acquired the stakes of Shell, Total and Eni in oil block OML 34 in 2012.
Dossou-Aworet has served twice as president of OPEC’s board of governors and represented Gabon within OPEC for many years, earning him the nickname “Mr Petroleum”.
Adegbite Falade: CEO of Aradel Holdings
Falade took the helm of Aradel Holdings, parent of Aradel Energy, in February 2021 when the indigenous operator was known as Niger Delta Exploration and Petroleum. The company was listed on the Nigerian stock exchange in October 2024.
He led the acquisition of the Olo and Olo West Marginal Fields from the TotalEnergies-NNPC joint venture, strengthening Aradel’s upstream portfolio.
He was previously the managing director and group chief operating officer of Oilserv Group of Companies between March 2017 and January 2021. Falade also worked for Oando in several roles, including general manager for portfolio development and COO at Oando Energy Resources as well as executive director at Oando Gas & Power.
He spent 11 years at Shell, rising to petroleum economics discipline and portfolio lead for Shell EP, Africa before he left in 2009.
Olanrewaju Kalejaiye: CEO of ND Western
Kalejaiye, who has over 35 years of experience in oil and gas exploration and production in Nigeria and the United States, became the CEO of ND Western in May last year, three months after joining the company as senior vice president.
He played a key role in the $2.4bn acquisition of SPDC assets in Nigeria through the Renaissance Africa Energy Company consortium, positioning ND Western as a major player in the upstream sector.
Before joining the company as senior vice president in February 2024, he worked at Chevron for 34 years and held various leadership roles, including general manager of operations in Nigeria.
He has served on various industry boards, including chairman of OPTS Gas Sub-Committee, West African Gas Pipeline Company Governing Council, and Gas Aggregation Company Nigeria.
Abdulrazaq Isa: Co-founder, chair and CEO of Waltersmith
For nearly three decades, Isa has been leading the Waltersmith Group of Companies, which was incorporated in 1996 as a joint venture between Nigerian firm Waltersmith & Associates and Petroman Oil Limited of Calgary, Canada. In 2001, Waltersmith Petroman Oil became a wholly Nigerian-owned company with the divestment of Petroman Oil.
Isa joined the Renaissance Africa Energy consortium that made the $2.4bn acquisition of Shell’s onshore oil business in Nigeria. This deal transferred Shell’s entire equity holding in SPDC to indigenous companies, including Waltersmith, marking a significant milestone for local ownership in Nigeria’s oil sector.
He is currently the chairman of the Independent Petroleum Producers Group and second vice-chairman of the Petroleum Club Lagos.
Isa started his career in banking, garnering over 15 years of experience at African International Bank Nigeria, Chartered Bank Nigeria (now Stanbic IBTC) and co-founded Safetrust Savings & Loan (now a subsidiary of Sterling Bank).
Roger Brown: CEO of Seplat Energy
Seplat Energy received the government’s green light in October to purchase ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited. The $2.4bn deal, which was delayed for over two years, gave Seplat a 40% stake in four oil mining licences, including more than 90 shallow-water and onshore platforms and 300 producing wells.
The deal boosted Seplat’s total production by 11%, with an annualised average of 4,329 boepd, raising total production to 52,947 boepd in 2024.
Brown, who joined the company as CFO in July 2013, has been the CEO since August 2020. He played a pivotal role in the completion of Seplat’s dual listing on the Nigerian and London stock exchanges in 2014 – a first for a Nigerian company.
Andrew Knott: Founder and CEO of Savannah Energy
British company Savannah Energy announced the completion of its purchase of Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corporation (SIPEC), a subsidiary of Chinese energy giant Sinopec Group, last month.
It now owns 100% interest in the Stubb Creek Field, located in Akwa Ibom State and operated by its affiliate company Universal Energy Resources, which holds 51%. It paid around $35.1m for SIPEC’s 49% stake.
Knott spearheaded Savannah’s acquisition of ExxonMobil’s upstream and midstream assets in Chad and Cameroon, marking a major milestone in the company’s expansion into Central Africa. In 2019, he led the acquisition of Seven Energy’s Nigerian assets, including an 80% stake in the Uquo gas field and Accugas, significantly boosting Savannah’s gas production and processing capacity.
Knott has been the CEO of Savannah since its inception in July 2013. He previously held several leadership roles in the European oil and gas sector, including head of global energy investments for GLG Partners/MAN Group and head of upstream oil and gas research at Merrill Lynch.
Ufoma Immanuel: MD of Chappal Energies
In December, Chappal Energies completed its acquisition of Equinor Nigeria Energy Company (ENEC), which holds a 53.85% ownership in oil and gas lease OML 128, including the unitised 20.21% stake in the Agbami oil field, operated by Chevron.
It bought the subsidiary of Norwegian oil giant Equinor for $1.2bn and became the operator of OML 129, which includes several prospects and undeveloped discoveries, according to a statement.
Five months earlier, Chappal Energies announced that it had agreed to acquire TotalEnergies EP Nigeria’s 10% interest in three oil blocks within the SPDC joint venture for $860m.
The company was founded in 2020 by Ufoma, who worked in the UK and the Middle East as an investment banking and private equity professional before returning to Nigeria.
He was the former head of corporate finance and strategy at Eroton Exploration and Production Company, which bought a 45% stake in OML 18 from Shell, Total and Eni for $1.2bn in 2015. He later became the chief finance officer of Energy Link Infrastructure, a venture spun off from Eroton and left at the end of 2019.
(The Africa Report)
